The Inside Politics of Your Hunting Rights

Tag Archives: USDA

In a July 23rd memo titled “Greening Headquarters Update” the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) encouraged its employees to participate in “Meatless Mondays” where employees would forgo eating any meat on Mondays.

The USDA’s “Meatless Monday” memo (see page 3) reads like it could have come straight from an animal rights organization’s website. Here are some quotes:

If you hunt with dogs, know someone who hunts with dogs, or might want to own a hunting dog someday, you need to be aware of a focused campaign by animal rights organizations to regulate dog owners—and dog breeders—out of existence.

The animal rights folks’ idea is simple – bury sporting dog and hobby breeders under a mountain of unnecessary and costly regulations until none are left. Why? Because many of them want to eliminatehunting with dogs, breeding purebred dogs, and all dog breeding.

Generally, we see most of their efforts at the state level. Already this year, more than 90 bills have been introduced across the country that could be harmful for sporting dog owners. Recently, the animal rights lobby persuaded the federal government to propose new rules that would expand the number and types of dog owners the federal government regulates. Here’s why sportsmen should be worried:

The Protect What’s Right Blog is an insider’s view of the politics of hunting. It is an interactive place for those who care about the future of hunting and how it is impacted in state capitols, Washington DC and in the courts. Moderated by three veteran political pros from the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the PWR blog will also feature guest contributions from other leading hunting rights activists and other articles we find relevant in the discussion of your right to hunt, fish and trap. We encourage reader comments and dialogue.